ATLAXTIS — TEEMIEE. 221 



to the entire continent which surrounds the interior sea. What there is on 

 this side of the strait of which we are spealiing resembles a vast gateway, the 

 entrance of which might be narrow, but it is actually a sea, and the land which 

 surrounds it is a real continent. In the Island Atlantis reigned kings of amaz- 

 ing power. They had under their dominion the entire island, as well as several 

 other islands and some parts of the continent. Besides, on the hither side of 

 the strait, they were still reigning over Libya as far as Egypt and over Europe 

 as far as the Tyrrhenian. All this power was once upon a time united in order by 

 a single blow to subjugate our country, your own, and all the peoples living on 

 the hither side of the strait. It was then that the strength and courage of 

 Athens blazed forth. By the valor of her soldiers and their superiority in the 

 military art, Athens was supreme among the Hellenes; but, the latter having 

 been forcetl to abandon her, alone she braved the fi-ightful danger, stoppetl the 

 invasion, piled victory upon victory, preserved from slavery nations still free, 

 and restored to complete independence all those who, like ourselves, live on 

 this side of the Pillars of Hercules. Later, with gi-eat earthquakes and inunda- 

 tions, in a single day and one fatal night, all who had been warriors against you 

 were swallowed up. The Island of Atlantis disappeared beneath the sea. Since 

 that time the sea in these quarters has become unnavigable ; vessels can not 

 pass there because of the sands which extend over the site of the buried isle.^ 



Here surely is a narrative which has not at all the coloring of a 

 fable. It is of an exactness almost scientific. It may be thought that 

 the dimensions of the Island of Atlantis are slightly exaggerated 

 here, but we must remember that the Egyptian priest did not know 

 the immensity of Asia, and that the words " larger than Asia " have 

 not in his mouth the significance that they have to-day. Everything 

 else is perfectly clear and entirely probable. A large island, off the 

 Strait of Gibraltar, mother of a numerous, strong, and warlike race; 

 other smaller islands, in a broad channel separating the large island 

 from the African coast ; one may pass easily from the large island to 

 the little ones, and from the latter over to the continent, and it is 

 easy then to gain the shores of the Mediterranean and to subdue the 

 peoples who have become established there, those of the south first, 

 as far as the frontier of Eg^-pt and of Libya, then those of the 

 north, as far as the Tyrrhenian, and even to Greece. This invasion 

 by the Atlantic pirates Athens resists with success. Perhaps, how- 

 ever, she might have been vanquished, when a cataclysm came to her 

 aid, in a few hours engulfing the Island Atlantis, and resounding, 

 with violent shocks and frightful tidal wave, over all the Mediter- 

 ranean shores. The conflicting armies disappear, taken unawares 

 by the inundation of the shores: and when the survivors recover 

 themselves they perceive that their invaders are dead, and they learn 

 then that the very source is wiped out whence descended those ter- 

 rible hordes. TThen long, long after some hardy mariners venture to 

 pass through the Pillars of Hercules and sail across the western seas, 



1 Works of Plato, translated [into French] by V. Cousin, vol. 12, pp. 109-113, Paris, 

 pub. Rey and Gravier. 



